


window to window

by changwonu



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Coming of Age, Fluff, High School, House Party, M/M, No Smut, meanie, quarterback mingyu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:27:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25194655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/changwonu/pseuds/changwonu
Summary: Where Wonwoo slowly realises his feelings for his next door neighbour and school's star quarterback, Kim Mingyu.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 12
Kudos: 131





	window to window

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by a Yaoi I read with the same name, but I'm not quite at the point where I can write smut comfortably ahahah so it's just a little fluff, anyways enjoy.

It was an autumn afternoon when Jeon Wonwoo realised that there was a new face in the bay windows of his next door neighbour’s house. The amber leaves had bunched up by Wonwoo’s windowsill, and he had to push them aside, watching as they drifted down the gap separating the two windows.

The boy looked older than him, maybe 17 or 18? But it didn’t really matter to Wonwoo, he was a romanticist, and he knew that they’d become friends. In fact, he could already feel himself creating fantastical scenarios where the two could watch sunsets disappear on the local beach together or midnight whispers with two pairs of legs dangled off the edge of the window as the stars overlooked a blossoming friendship.

The small boy was so consumed in his own delusions, he couldn’t even tell that a pair of dark feline eyes were studying him with piqued interest. And obliviously, Wonwoo had made his way into his new neighbour’s thoughts, leaving the other with mere glimpses of him through the bedroom windows as the autumn leaves started to disappear out of sight. 

It was just Wonwoo’s luck that his mother had stumbled across the kind lady living next door and had invited her and her son over for dinner. He had been waiting for this moment for so long, that he had almost put a halt to thinking about the boy next door completely.

As the boy, slightly towering over Wonwoo, appeared at the door frame, Wonwoo felt almost insecure by looking at him. What Wonwoo had failed to note through the occasional glance at him through 2 sheets of glass, was that this boy was in fact the most attractive boy he had ever met...Not to mention his tall build and the heavy top lashes that cast shadows over the outlines of strong cheekbones.

Kim Mingyu, he learned was this boy’s name. 

A pretty name for a pretty boy with nice cheekbones.

He was only a Sophomore, despite his mature features. Which explained why Wonwoo, who was going into Junior year, didn’t see much of him around their high school. But, it was from this moment on, they were to be friends. It was only destined, Wonwoo thought, their windows were too perfectly aligned for it to be by chance. And Wonwoo was to use it to his utmost advantage.

So he did. As the two mothers engaged in small talk in the kitchen, Wonwoo and Mingyu had draped themselves over the edge of a small bed, eyes narrowed on the character selection screen projected from an old CRT TV placed in the corner of Wonwoo’s room.

Mingyu had chosen Bowser, Wonwoo had chosen Princess Peach. Perhaps this was enough insight into their differences, despite their proximity in location, they’d never share the same interests. Wonwoo had slowly started to establish that bitter truth as the two boys were called upon to return downstairs as the night had reached its end.

Wonwoo had soon burned any bridges that had formed between the two in his idyllic little mind. Occasionally they’d share an awkward nod of the head or forced quirk of lips through the large windows, not long before the other party had drawn the blinds.

And that’s how it went. Wonwoo was sure that the two had ceased to have a less than awkward encounter in the span of a whole year. But, the start of Senior year would mean more interactions with Juniors. Interaction with Kim Mingyu.

Wonwoo carried his frustration with him to the first lesson of the day, slamming his heavy art history textbook against the desk, causing a concerned Vernon to flinch at the sound.

“What’s gotten into you? I get that school sucks, but it’s one more year until we’re out.” Vernon placed the palm of his hand against his fair skin as he watched Wonwoo vent out his bottled up emotions on a 3-year-old textbook about architecture in ancient Greece.

Completely avoiding the question, Wonwoo snapped back at him. “Why are you even in this class?” Truth be told, Wonwoo wasn’t in the slightest convinced that the pasty looking male had developed a passion for oil painting over the summer holidays especially with his title of captain of the football team.

But his questions were answered when a familiar looking Boo Seungkwan approached them. Vernon hadn’t developed a passion for painting, just the artist. Wonwoo wanted to think that their little high school romance was frankly disgusting and futile, but he couldn’t. He had spent the whole summer lost in shades of blush pinks hoping for a person who made him feel wanted, and they had exactly that.

Settling down in their seats, Seungkwan and Vernon exchanged a couple silent glances before giving their proposal to the tall brunette. “The team has been preparing for the first game of the season, but tonight is the initiation because all the new juniors are joining the team. Want to come?” Seungkwan propped his elbow against the flat surface of the table, so he could lean forward when speaking.

“No.” Was Wonwoo’s immediate response. The last thing Wonwoo wanted was to be in a cesspool of male testosterone, it was disgusting. 

Vernon gave a look to Seungkwan as if to say ‘I knew he would say no’. It was definitely no secret that despite being ‘the life of the party’, Wonwoo preferred the company of a couple shots of vodka and a nicely written novel rather than a night out. 

But Seungkwan was not one for retaliating. “Wonu, we’re your only friends. Even Minghao is going and that stupid boy has a stomach bug.” He pulled out some cutesy facial expressions, which might have endeared Vernon, but made Wonwoo gag a little. “Plus, we need you as a designated driver.”

Minghao, Vernon and Seungkwan were Wonwoo’s only friends, there were no lies told, however that wasn’t sufficient in swaying him away from an inviting night of drunk literature. The invite was enough to reassure Wonwoo that his friends still wanted him around, and with that information, missing out on a high school party meant nothing to him.

With a quick whip of a drawing pencil, Wonwoo got to work, sketching rough outlines to what would be one of his final art pieces made in highschool. He’d been drawing ever since a young age, not very well admittedly, but he’d definitely improved over the years. Maybe with some sweet talk and the façade that his life was completely in check, he could persuade his classically conservative mother into paying for art college with drabbles of an unlikely, but promising future.

His reverie was immediately revoked by Seungkwan casually asking “Oh, Kim Mingyu’s coming?” to whatever Vernon had said.

Now, that shouldn’t have been the reason that Wonwoo changed his mind. And Wonwoo would like to think that it wasn't the reason as to why he changed his mind, but it was. Of all people, why would Kim Mingyu be going. Wonwoo and Mingyu were opposites, he had established it in his mind. Mingyu had the personality of a semi-ripened banana, the last thing he expected was for him to be going to a football party.

Slowing the flow of his pencil against the sketchbook paper, his ears pricked up with intent at the couple’s conversation. “Yes, coach and I decided to give him the position of quarterback. He’ll be replacing Cheol.”

Wonwoo almost choked on his spit. “Kim Mingyu is the new quarterback?” The fact that the silent boy who turned his lights off at 9pm was the new quarterback completely baffled him.

Vernon smirked as if he had been plotting this. “Oh! So you’re only interested when your pretty boy crush is involved. I see.” He was testing Wonwoo, he could sense the smugness radiating from the desk adjacent to his.

Unable to reply for the sake of his pride, Wonwoo exhaled and toyed with the dog ears on his textbook pages. “So what time is this party, and where?”

Seungkwan gave Vernon a secretive fistbump behind their backs, and smiled at the irritable boy in front of them. “We’re doing a pre with all last year’s seniors and this year’s seniors at 6pm in Cheol’s basement and the juniors start arriving at 8pm.” Great, Wonwoo mused, he had a couple hours to get completely wasted so he could avoid any awkward smiles or nods from the boy next door.

“Also, we’re getting ready at Cheol’s, so I can prevent you from wearing one of your stupid turtlenecks again.” Vernon added to the end of his boyfriend’s comment.

Sending a sardonic narrowing of the eyes Vernon’s way, Wonwoo attempted to put the party at the back of his mind. However, not before texting his bereaved mother. Wonwoo was not the type of child who was just able to leave his house. At age 17, he still had to reason with his mother before stepping past the door frame as to where he’d be going, what time he’d be back and most importantly, who he was with, because god forbid he was be to away from his phone for more than 15 minutes, good old Jeon Mirae would drop a line to either Minghao, Seungkwan or Vernon to ensure Wonwoo was still alive and kicking.

5 in the afternoon had come around much sooner than Wonwoo had anticipated. He peeled his eyes away from the page of Pride and Prejudice that he was utterly indulged in, and set about filling a duffel with clothes. “Gosh, it’d be so much easier if Vernon trusted me in dressing myself” He wondered aloud, huffing as his wardrobe gradually unfolded on itself and sprawled in piles on the carpeted floor. His mother was in for a treat when she got back from work. 

In this moment, Wonwoo couldn’t quite tell if he fancied himself more similar to Elizabeth Bennet or Mr. Darcy. Either way, they both got a happy ending despite both being relative dickheads to each other. It’d be nice to live like Elizabeth Bennet, Wonwoo pondered, he wasn’t the most attractive but at least he had a strong sense of self. Catching a glimpse of a raven haired teenager in the window next to his own, he realised that Mingyu definitely resonated with Mr. Darcy. “He has everything but a personality.” Wonwoo chuckled to himself before folding the last crumpled t-shirt and closing the closet door. A vivid image of Mingyu showing up to the party in a Nike t-shirt and gym shorts popped into his mind and he descended into spirals of laughter until Seungkwan showed up in Vernon’s convertible.

As he threw his duffel into the boot, Wonwoo hopped in the backseat stretching his legs down the middle of the two front seats, just so he could get a reaction out of Vernon, which followed subsequently with an angry remark about how much his daddy had spent on the leather seats.

Seungkwan gave a warning look to Wonwoo, despite the numerous times the two would giggle about Vernon and his stupid silver BMW. Relationships change people. Wonwoo rolled his eyes, returning his feet to where they belonged. The trip wasn’t long, S.Coups lived surprisingly close to their school which made sense as to why he always showed up to football practice 1 hour early, Vernon had remarked. 

Cheol’s house was nothing short of huge, the backyard big enough to fit a football pitch and more if left to one’s imagination, and you can imagine the issues Wonwoo faced having been given directions to the bathroom to change, but there were about 6 miscellaneous rooms where the bathroom was supposedly situated. He finally found himself in a huge ensuite thanks to Vernon’s assistance, where the three of them could wreak havoc on the bathroom floor, littering it with assorted items of clothing.

Seungkwan stifled a snort as he watched Wonwoo climb his long legs into a pair of rather odd looking sweatpants. “Wonu, your pants look like half your boxers are hanging out.” He managed out in between giggles and his hand pointed at the mismatched fabric making Wonu scowl at the hysterical boys in front of him.

“Shut up, I thought this through.” He dangled an unnecessarily large t-shirt in front of them with a proud look which said something along the lines of ‘I’m prepared’. But, he wasn’t .

Two minutes later the same purple t-shirt was grasped out of his polished fingers and found itself in the clasp of Cheol’s left hand, a pair of scissors in his right.

Wonwoo was told to trust the process, but he had many doubts about it considering Cheol’s head was adorned by a fluorescent bucket hat and his Chuck Taylors had ducks printed on them. Nonetheless, he waited until a strip of fabric had been sundered from the main article of clothing before it was handed back to him. 

“You’re toned enough to pull it off.” Seungcheol answered his apprehensive look. “But you’re going to have to change those pants, you look like an idiot.”

Wonwoo had never for a minute thought that his first and last interaction with the old star quarterback of his highschool team would be for fashion advice, but then again, he never expected to be at this party in the first place. Thanking Cheol, and reconsidering his sweatpants options, he settled for a pair of plain black sweatpants and the top that Cheol had cropped for him, leaving a slither of his midriff exposed for the public eye.

“Wonu!” Minghao had found his way into Cheol’s basement, looking slightly paler than usual but still dressed to impress. “I missed you!” 

“I guess I missed you too.” Wonu raised an eyebrow and made a point to stay his distance. “But, if you’ve contracted salmonella, I don't want to be anywhere near you tonight.” He put up his hands at the pouty Chinese boy.

“I haven’t got salmonella, you idiot, I’m not planning to kill my boyfriend along with everyone else here tonight.” Minghao deadpanned before grabbing the plastic cup that he had set down earlier, filled with some gin and tonic. 

Wonwoo had forgotten to grab a drink, he figured he’d better get a move on as the Juniors would start to pour in around 8-9pm and it was getting dangerously close to 8pm. Gravitating towards the basement kitchen with Minghao, he added risky amounts of rum to a can of Diet Coke that he had sourced from the fridge, two of these would be enough to pass the many hours that he expected to spend alone until Vernon drove him back home at 1.

“Aren’t you pouring far too much? I don’t want to face Ajumma Jeon when I’m bringing her son home, half conscious and vomit on his clothes.” Minghao shuddered at the recollection of last summer where Wonwoo was held hostage for 2 months because he had slightly overstepped his alcohol limit. 

“You won’t, Nonnie is driving me home and Mirae is going to be home at 2am, so I have the all clear.” Wonwoo smiled cheekily at Minghao, before taking a massive gulp of the sickening liquid inside of his cup. Two of these would be sure to knock the lanky boy right out, so he would have to pace himself in order to avoid throwing up right before the Junior’s arrived. “Anyways, why are you even here?”

Minghao knew what Wonwoo meant by that question. Despite their close friendship, Minghao was in his Junior year, and he was supposed to arrive alongside the others at 8 o’ clock.

“To see Jun, of course.” This reply caused the tall Korean to roll his eyes, for his only friends were all preoccupied in relationships of their own. But, he had noticed that Minghao had stuck beside him, despite Junhui being very clearly in the room with them, which he was grateful for but also felt quite guilty about.

Pushing his younger friend towards his tall Chinese boyfriend, Wonwoo watched as the two engaged in an affectionate hug before shifting his eyes to Seungkwan and Vernon snuggled into a corner on the sofa. Solemnly, Wonwoo raised his cup to his lips, forcing himself to swallow the liquid courage in the hope that he could make something out of this night.

Drop by drop, the boy’s bloodstream was being polluted with more and more alcohol as 8pm rolled around. Wonwoo was dopey, his eyelids growing heavier and background noise becoming a blur to him. Figures had walked by him multiple times, but he hadn’t mustered up the brain capacity to make sense of any of them. 

“I like your crop top.” One of them had stopped by him, catching his slightly tipsy state off-guard. Squinting his eyes, he knew the face and the voice but couldn’t quite form any sort of connection between them in his mind.

He giggled at the boy, but his response took longer than he had anticipated as the cogs of his brain had finally caught up with reality. “Mingyu?” Scanning his outfit, he was much better dressed than Wonwoo could have ever anticipated. The fantasy of bland gym clothes was shattered by a black muscle tank and a pair of bleached jeans boasting a muscular build.

The dark haired boy smiled in response. “You’re the boy from next door.” His answer was slightly disappointing to an intoxicated Wonwoo, the least the Junior could’ve done was remember his name.

“Yes. The window situation is pretty unfortunate, but also why do you sleep so early?” Wonwoo found himself unable to prevent himself from voicing his mind, the words came tumbling out so he just smiled and hoped that Mingyu had downed a couple of drinks too.

Under the blue LED lights, Mingyu’s blush was barely noticeable but his eyes sparkled with slight embarrassment. “I just figured you needed your privacy after a certain point, so I put the blinds down earlier.”

Wonwoo snorted. “That’s a lie, I always know when you’ve gone to bed because that’s when the porn noises have stopped and I can finally read my novel in peace.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he had a sudden urge to place his fist in his mouth to prevent himself from saying anything more. “I am so sorry, I can’t believe I just said that.”

Mingyu had burst into laughter, whether he was now feeling uncomfortable, Wonwoo couldn’t tell, but it was a relief to see a positive reaction. “You didn’t have to expose me like that, Wonwoo.”

“Oh? So you do know my name.” Wonwoo smiled at the boy in front of him. Incognizant to a surge of newfound confidence, he reached up and pushed one of Mingyu’s loose strands of hair to the side of his face. 

Mingyu seemed to be at a loss for words, trying to string a sentence together, but instead, burning under Wonwoo’s fingertips. Wonwoo took a minute to admire his mink brown eyes framed with a dark set of lashes, sweeping along the Hellenistic outlines of his face. There was no doubt that Wonwoo was a human worthy of deifying, one would just have to see him to understand. However, in this moment, in the heavy smog of sweat and alcohol, the pulsating EDM music and LED lights, Wonwoo wanted nothing more than to confess a sort of undying love for the other.

Rescuing him from a possibly regretful profession, a wobbly Seungkwan nudged the smaller boy telling them to join the game of spin the bottle. A couple of begrudging noises erupted from some Juniors and Seniors around them, protesting their participation in a game which consequented in kissing the same gender, but it was not long for with a couple of reminders that they were all wearing socks, they happily took their seats around the empty bottle.

And, so they did. They engaged in more chatter than they did in actual kissing, which was all the better for everyone because Minghao’s salmonella threat was now under control. Jeonghan was seen giving Seungcheol a kiss on the cheek before everything started to crumble for Wonwoo, he could just about still partially hear and see but his head felt like it was carrying the weight of the world and the ever changing LEDs were no help to the drilling sensation in his temples.

The bottle had just about got to him, so he steadily paced himself before spinning it, half-aware of who was even sitting in the circle. His head and eyes whirred along with the rotation of the bottle following it as it landed on an unexpecting Mingyu. 

Seungkwan let out a drunken cheer before a slightly more sober Minghao muffled him by pressing his hand over his lips, trying to see what would happen next eagerly. The whole school knew Wonwoo, whether he had interacted with them or not, so even the Juniors watched him with anticipation as the bottle pointed in Kim Mingyu’s direction. 

Wonwoo gave Mingyu apologetic eyes. If placed in this position sober or mildly drunk, Wonwoo would have no objections leaning forward to place his lips to Mingyu’s, or maybe even more, but he wasn’t either of those things. He was completely and utterly wasted. 

White noise was drowning out the heavy bass and the once coherent thoughts flowing through Wonwoo’s mind were blanketed in sleep inducing mist. A concerned looking Mingyu became foggier in his field of vision until all he could see was black, and silence became the loudest noise in the room.

———————————————————————————————— 

Mingyu watched, mildly horrified, as Wonwoo’s body slumped over in unconsciousness. With Seungkwan and Vernon seeming to be in a frenzied panic, prodding the lifeless figure and whispering frantically between them, Mingyu had the impression that this had happened before. 

Bearing an unamused expression, Minghao stared at Wonwoo’s closed lids and sighed. “I’m spending the end of this night calling Jeon Mirae to tell her that her son has passed out at a party. What dejavú.” He muttered in a bitter tone.

“Wait!” Mingyu shouted with unexpected urgency at Minghao, before his thumb could reach the dial button. “I live next to Wonwoo, I’ll take him home.”

Eyeing the fellow Junior up and down, with a sense of scepticism, Minghao queried the tall boy. “Did you have anything to drink? And where’s your car parked?”

Mingyu was in disbelief, waving his beer bottle in Minghao’s face. “Alcohol-free beer” He let out a humourless scoff before answering the younger’s second question. “And my car is parked just outside S.Coups’ driveway.”

Calling for Junhui’s help, the three boys left Seungkwan and Vernon to themselves considering they were off their faces, and carried a heavy Wonwoo to Mingyu’s obsidian coloured Jeep. They finally dumped his insensate frame in the passenger seat, with limbs sprawled all over the dashboard. Wishing Mingyu well, the two waved goodbye so that the Jeep could pull out of the parking spot and get on it’s way.

This was definitely not how Mingyu was expecting his night to end. He had seen Wonwoo raiding his cupboard for clothes earlier in the day, but he had paid no mind to it since their lives were in inherently separate spheres. But, he was pleasantly surprised when seeing Wonwoo devilishly flaunting a small waist in his purple crop top, that he felt the need to start a conversation with him right there and then.

Even now, the older boy looked so pretty whilst sleeping that Mingyu wanted to silence any voices of morality in his head, and stroke Wonwoo’s cheek affectionately. It just so happened that Mingyu had traffic to pay attention to, so he kept his hands on the steering wheel to the soft sound of Daniel Caesar lulling out of the speaker.  
Eyes fluttering as the car rocked over speedbumps, Wonwoo rose to a more conscious state. This made Mingyu worry slightly because Wonwoo throwing up in his Jeep was the last thing he wanted to end his night.

Kim Kangmi wasn’t anticipating Mingyu to arrive home so early, but you can imagine her shock as the door opened on Mingyu carrying a sleeping teenager on his back that looked suspiciously like their next door neighbour’s son. A couple of silent exchanges later, Mingyu’s mother gave him a reassuring eye smile and made her way to the kitchen to chop up some loaves of bread and prepare a water bottle for Wonwoo’s recovery.

Grunting as Wonwoo’s body weight pushed against Mingyu’s back, he ascended the stairs to his bedroom in a hurry so that he could quickly dump the boy’s corpse-like figure on the bed and start to sober him up. Mingyu checked his watch, reading 1am. Minghao had told him that Wonwoo’s mother returned home at 2am, which left only an hour to wake the boy up and get him into his house.

Mingyu ran one of his hands through Wonwoo’s soft hair, looking down at him fondly. He was almost so entranced by the brunet’s Disney Prince worthy appearance that he didn’t notice his own mother watching the scene with glossy eyes.

“I have some bread and water for him when he wakes up.” Mingyu jumped away from Wonwoo upon hearing his mother’s voice, he sheepishly moved his hands to his lap, nodding a short thank you as she placed the items down on his bedside. “Don’t worry, he’s cute. I approve.” She grinned and glanced one more time at the two boys before leaving the room and a rather embarrassed son.

After the unexpected events of the night, exhaustion had finally hit Mingyu like a sedative and he was battling the beckoning of slumber just so he could finally see Wonwoo stir awake. Prying his eyelids open for what felt like hours, he lost strength to keep them open and succumbed to the comfort of a good night’s sleep.

His dreams hypothesised of what would happen if the older boy hadn’t passed out in Cheol’s basement. Would Wonwoo have kissed him? His lips looked so soft and pink, Mingyu could fantasise about those lips placed upon his for what seemed like forever. He sleepily hummed at the thought, reaching out for Wonwoo’s figure on the bed beside him. Yet, the bed was cold and no figure remained when he had woken up at 10am the next morning.

Hungrily, Mingyu reached for a piece of bread left on his table but nothing remained. Simply a note in the place of his mother’s bread basket.

‘Thank you for last night. I climbed back into my bedroom but go ahead and open your curtains now.’ - W

Mingyu didn't have to be told twice, with a spring in his step he pushed each curtain away and let the morning sun peek through his window, bathing the whole room with a splash of life. Opposite him sat Wonwoo, hair roughly tousled by the battle of sleep and purple bags under his eyes to serve as a reminder that drinking so much is never a good idea. But nonetheless, Mingyu found it wholly captivating and gazed at the grinning mess.

“Good morning, Mingyu!” Wonwoo laughed, leaning his palms against the window sill so he poke his head through the open window.  
Mingyu’s sparkling eyes crinkled as he basked in the sight of Wonwoo’s charming smile. “Good morning.” 

The morning was welcomed, birds whistling new harmonies as a new sense of purpose was carried through a post-summer breeze whilst the two boys faced each other in growing clouds of blush and rose, window to window.


End file.
